Today's coverage: GM fallout, Geithner in China, possible jet debris

In US news ...

• The taxpayer's shares. Mark Trumbull looks at the prospects for the American public's new investment in the auto industry. The consensus is clear: This is a rescue mission, not a moneymaking proposition. Word on the street is that most of the taxpayer money is gone for good.

• GM's local impact. Mark Guarino in Michigan on GM spreading the pain of further plant closings. Communities in and around Detroit can't help but be woebegone – even though many were already expecting the worst.

• Running California. With the state in financial shambles, who'd want to run for California governor? Dan Wood in Los Angeles looks at the six candidates emerging for the state's gubernatorial race next year, from mayors (Gavin Newsom) to Silicon Valley millionaires (Meg Whitman) to Jerry Brown.

• Rates also rise. Mark Trumbull finds two sides to interest rates starting to rise again – a sign that investors are regaining enough confidence to shift money from bonds back into stocks, but also signal bad news ahead for the deeply indebted and still borrowing federal government.

• McChrystal hearings. Gordon Lubold reports the context for the Senate hearing today for the new commander of US forces in Afghanistan. US officials sense that public support for Obama's Pakistan/Afghanistan plan only runs so deep – and that they have to show successes there soon. The clock is ticking.

• Administering outreach. Cabinet secretaries fan out across the Midwest Tuesday to offer solace and aid to workers and communities hit hard by the newly announced auto plant closings. Mark Guarino observes whether they are offering concrete help, or mainly a shoulder to cry on?

• Main Street stopovers. Bill Glauber posts his first daily blog from Plymouth, Mass., as he drives across the country checking the state of affairs in mostly smaller town America. A sour economy has nixed Plymouth's Fourth of July parade.

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